Berlin to Rename Street After Dutschke

Berlin will name a street after Rudi Dutschke, a leader of the militant student uprisings in the city in 1968, the council of the alternative district of Kreuzberg-Friedrichshain said Tuesday. Dutschke was born in the former East Germany and fled to the West with his family in 1961 just before the Berlin Wall was built. By 1968 he had become the emblematic frontman of the socialist student protests sweeping Germany and in April that year he survived an assassination attempt by a right-wing fanatic. The idea to honour Dutschke came from the Left Party, which controls the district, and has been backed by the Greens. But it is opposed by the conservative Christian Democrats, who argue that Dutschke tried to undermine German democracy. Conservative tabloids newspapers, particularly the daily Bild, also have opposed attempts to memorialize Dutschke. The street to be named after him runs through Berlin's old newspaper district, close by the building housing the Axel Springer group, which publishes Bild. Dutschke died in retirement in Denmark in December 1979, having never fully recovered from his injuries.